Hello all!

I am new to the forum, but not to being a husky owner. I have 4 pups:

Sedona - Female Husky, 4 1/2 years old (our pack leader - and tester of patience)
Chinook - Male Husky, 3 years old (our lazy, trustworthy, mama's boy)
Cheyenne - Female German Shepherd, 2 years old (loyal, not-so-intelligent baby girl whom we adore)
Tuvok - Male Husky, 10 months (my current problem child - rescued in July - severly abused prior to us getting him)

Sedona is a highly intelligent, hard headed brat. She has FINALLY started to calm down. In fact, I think she has calmed down too much, because she doesnt seem to be helping with Tuvok as much as she did with the training of Chinook and Cheyenne. She's leaving his pack obedience training to Chinook - who, as previously stated, is lazy lol. So Tuvok doesnt respect the pack order. That's a whole different issue though...

OK, with that brief background, here's my big problem. We are having a heck of a time getting Tuvok trained (and at this point, cant really afford the classes). We took Sedona to puppy class when she was young and have since trained each of our dogs on our own with the knowledged gained in Sedona's schooling. The problem is Tuvok just seems too resistant to training. We obviously didnt get into the training too much when we first got him (he was 6 months old when we rescued him); All we wanted then was for him to come to us and not flinch when we pet him. Now he trusts us 100% but will not listen.

When we were training Sedona (who was a difficult case as well. The poor teacher at the class probably went home to a stiff drink after every one of Sedona's classes lol), the big turn around point of getting her obedience was when we took full control of her feeding. When we gave her food, she had to sit and wait for us to say "OK" before she could eat. And if we walked over to her and said her name, she had to repeat the sitting process over. It took about a week with Sedona to get her food habits right. It took 5 weeks (not even an exaggeration) just to get eye contact from Tuvok in a reasonable amount of time after the food was dropped. He still wont sit and wait unless you have a tight grip on his collar.

The biggest problem for me is: he barks, constantly, at me (or my hubby, whoever is feeding) while I give the food out (he is last, they are fed in pack order: Sedona, Chinook, Cheyenne, then him. Sedona would be a very unhappy girl if we changed that!). From the moment he hears the scooping of the food through the garage door, to the moment it is put on the ground in front of him - bark, bark, bark, bark - All while running in circles around me. I am at my wits end. Im not used to barking anyways, since it's not a normal Husky thing. I think I've heard Sedona and Chinook bark a dozen times combined in their entire lives (not counting howling and whimpering lol).

So, here is what I am going to try now, and I was hoping for your opinions (since there isnt a barking thread - since huskies arent barkers!). Tonight, I am going to pull him in the house, get the food and feed the other three dogs in the backyard (like normal). Then my thought was to take his food inside... And sit there, calmly saying "quiet" over and over until he stops barking. Then give him a portion of his food. If he sits, quietly, after he finishes the small portion, I'll praise him and give him the rest. If he barks (which Im sure he will for weeks, because that's how long it took to get him just to sit the heck down when he was being fed - dang, hard-headed huskies!) I will start the "quiet" process again and give him another portion. etc.

I dont know if this will work, but I just dont know what else to do. I have a feeling I will always have to feed him seperate if I want a calm feeding time (because he also jolts towards the other pup's food before they are even allowed to eat), which is fine... As long as the barking stops! Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!!

(sorry for the long post...)

Not sure if saying "quiet" repeatedly while he's barking will make him understand what behavior you're expecting when you say that word. I pretty much stick to the idea that you should ignore bad behavior and reward desired behavior. I wouldn't feed him when he barks, period. The moment he's quiet, praise then allow him to eat. Drogo went through a very brief and mild phase of what you're describing. After being let out of the crate in the morning, he would race into the kitchen for food. I would always take him out first to eliminate after being crated all night and he started not wanting to perform a BM; he would race back inside to get fed. He'd pee super fast and not completely empty his bladder, just enough so he could go back in. Once entering the house, he would follow us around incessantly and howl for food. We waited until he stopped following and howling before we allowed him to eat. He also knows that when he's taken out in the morning, he needs to completely finish pottying before he will get fed (he does number 1 and 2 every morning without fail). We did this religiously for maybe 3 days and he caught on very quickly.

Making him sit before feeding is a good idea, but maybe you should start small and address the biggest problem right now which is him barking at you. Once you get that under control, then work on sitting before eating? I feel like if you could get him to understand that quiet = food, you'd be much happier and it might be less stressful to teach him to sit/wait.

When he barks and runs circles around you and you feed him, you're reinforcing his bad behavior. As hard as it is, you have to ignore him and not unintentionally reward the behavior you're trying to correct. "If I'm loud and run around like a lunatic, mommy feeds me." when it should more be like "When I'm loud and run around like a lunatic, getting food takes FOREVER. Mommy feeds me fast when I'm quiet, so I think I'll start behaving that way now." That's probably not exactly what's going through his head, but you get the idea! XD

Not all methods work for everyone; I'm sure you'll get other suggestions from some of the members here. Choose whichever seems to work best for you and stick with it. Be consistent. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

I give you credit just for having 4 pups, then as a rescue and having a bad history it seems to take these dogs a lot longer to adapt to any change without a problem. Consistancy is best. They need to trust that they have food coming and are being loved. I'm not sure of his past home but I have heard of dogs doing this before. You never know if they were tormented with food but not given any. Do you get all their bowls ready at once and give them out in order, or do they eat one at a time? I think your idea of quiet is great and pray it starts to work. My husky is very chatty when it comes to gettting special food treats. Keep with it, you never know he could surprise you and get it really quick. I can try. I would have thought he would have learned from the others already. Good Luck

Sounds like Odin. I would feed as you normally feed. Completely ignore him unless he's doing something you like. If he's not barking (for at least 2 seconds at this point say "good quiet" and at that point he'll probably start barking again. Continue to ignore him. If it's his turn to get dished up and he's still barking turn away from him and pretend to occupy yourself with something else. He'll probably get more annoyed and bark more. Continue to ignore it. Eventually he will shut up. At the point he shuts up pick up his bowl and walk toward him, he'll probably start barking again. Turn away and ignore. Continue this process until you feed a quiet dog. It takes a while, especially on the first few runs. But he's young. It won't take long for him to break this habit. Odin is much older and now around meal times he'll bark when he runs in the house but as soon as he's in the kitchen he'll sit and "wait" until it's his turn to eat at which point he'll continue to sit and wait until he's given the OK to go to his dish and eat.

It'll make you insane and probably annoyed. But it works. They really hate to be ignored. I've found that forcing compliance (holding their collar, forcing a sit and wait.. ect. ect.) just drags the process out longer especially if you're fighting a barking Husky. If you ignore them things get done!

They have their bowls at "their spot" in the backyard. If their bowls were played with and are out in the yard, the food gets put on the ground (theyve figured out if they dont want to pick around like a chicken that they should leave their bowls alone haha). As soon as we walk out with the food cups, Sedona is waiting at her spot, because she knows she is first. Chinook waits to see the food drop, then does these cute little twirls in excitement over to his bowl. Then Cheyenne does the same thing (it's super cute). The other pups are very well behaved when it comes to food, but Tuvok is testing our patience.

I have tried just ignoring him until he stops, but it lasted hours (no joke) and with 4 dogs it's hard to keep the other 3 off of him while he's eating once he does finally behave enough to get his food (since he's the bottom of the pack, Sedona likes to think it's her food. So the hubby and I have to stand between her and Tuvok and assert our dominance). I hate to bring him in the house by himself for hours with him barking at me because that, in a sense, seems like reward. Kind of a "nanny nanny boo boo, Im in the house and you arent."

We werent planning on getting another dog. But the adoption agency was at Petsmart when we went in for food and there he was - shivering in fear of all these people - curled up at the back of the cage with his tail tucked. It took almost an hour just to get him out of the cage at the store... And it took us 3 weeks to realize he had a curly tail! He had never had his tail up and waging before; now it's permenantly curled on his back!

We were told by the adoption agency that he spend his time at the other house curled up behind the toilet because the father yelled and hit on him when he didnt do what they wanted. And their Autistic son was also hitting him (he still has an aversion to kids, we dont have any so he isnt around them enough). The mother brought him to the store and dropped him off 45 minutes before we got to the store. It was so sad. I couldnt stand seeing him curled in fear. So we fostered him and he got along so well with our dogs we had to keep him. He especially lifted Cheyenne's spirits because she was no longer the lowest in line lol.

I love him to death. He is adorable and sweet and has decided he really loves us. It's just when the food comes out. I will try ignoring him tonight and come back with a report tomorrow. Hopefully it's not an hour (or more!) long fiasco! lol

Honestly I think Kristina's advice is spot on but I'll admit I've tried it and I just don't have the time it takes to wait that long. Removing mine from the room or even the house doesn't help either, he'll bark and whine and carry on outside or in the other room if I put him there.

What has helped with mine is changing up the routine. If I do things differently (like in a different room and/or at a totally different time) then he's not quite so noisy. I've also found that removing my other dogs helps keep him quieter from the lack of "competition" for food. That's just my two cents. And as annoying as the barking and carrying on can be sometimes, most of the time I just deal with it and laugh at him. It may get on my nerves at the time but I know I would miss it if he were gone.

I've learned with Willow that the calmly staring at her until she quits her bad behavior has worked best. She has learned very quickly that if I stand in front of her and stare down at her that she has to give me her full attention. It has stopped her in all kinds of situations of bad behavior. By doing this, she has learned that the screws holding the toilet in place are off limits! LOL!!

26nikita wrote:

By doing this, she has learned that the screws holding the toilet in place are off limits! LOL!!

You gave me a really good laugh! Thank you!

26nikita wrote:

I've learned with Willow that the calmly staring at her until she quits her bad behavior has worked best. She has learned very quickly that if I stand in front of her and stare down at her that she has to give me her full attention. It has stopped her in all kinds of situations of bad behavior. By doing this, she has learned that the screws holding the toilet in place are off limits! LOL!!

yes, yes, yes! This works for us, too!

hollywoodhuskies wrote:

26nikita wrote:

I've learned with Willow that the calmly staring at her until she quits her bad behavior has worked best. She has learned very quickly that if I stand in front of her and stare down at her that she has to give me her full attention. It has stopped her in all kinds of situations of bad behavior. By doing this, she has learned that the screws holding the toilet in place are off limits! LOL!!

yes, yes, yes! This works for us, too!

This works with my Chihuahuas...not at all with my husky though.

Huskyluv wrote:

26nikita wrote:

By doing this, she has learned that the screws holding the toilet in place are off limits! LOL!!

You gave me a really good laugh! Thank you!

You're welcome! However, I will say it wasn't funny at the time. All I could invision was her knocking the dang toilet over and water flooding everywhere!